The Input-Output Model to Develop Chinese Students

TheInput-OutputModeltoDevelopChineseStudents’CriticalThinkinginEnglishMajorWritingCourseAbstractThispapertriestoanalyzetheproblemfromtheperspectivesofKrashen’sinputtheoryandSwain’soutputtheorysothatonthebasisofwhich,thei-oteachingmodelcouldbeproposedinEnglishmajorwritingcourseinChina.Furthermore,anexperimentisconductedtoassessthei-oteachingmodelandconcludesthatitisconducivetoreinforcingstudents’capabilityofcriticalthinkingandmitigatingthecurrentstatusofEnglishteaching,inwhichlanguageskillshavebeenattachedvitalsignificanceyetthinkingabilityhasbeenoverlooked.Keywords:Criticalthinking;Input-Outputmodel;Englishwriting;EnglishmajorINTRODUCTIONThecurrentstatusofcriticalthinkinginwritingteaching.CurrentyearshavewitnessedtheprevalentstatusofEnglishteaching,inwhichlanguageskillshavebeenattachedvitalsignificanceyetthinkingabilityhasbeenignored.Apartfromalackofsolidlanguagefoundationandthenegativeinterferenceofthenativelanguage,thereisstilladeficiencyofconsistencyandclarityinwriting,whichisthemanifestationoftheabsenceofthinkingability(Wu,2004).Intraditionalteachingapproach,theauthorityofteachersandteachingmaterialsleadstostudents’lackofindependence,initiativethinkingandjudgingability.What’smore,thewholeprocessofwritingisinclinedtobecomeameretediouscombinationofletters,wordsandsentences.Significanceofthestudy.ItmaybecomecrystalclearthatcriticalthinkingdevelopmenthasbecomeamajorconcernforEnglishmajors,withwhichstudentscouldmakeprofounddiscovery,findnewproblemsandcomeupwithsolutionsconstantly.Furthermore,sinceastrongconnectionbetweenwritingandthinkingabilityisexisted,integratingthedevelopmentofcriticalthinkingwithwritingcoursecouldnotonlyenhancestudents’thinkingabilityitself,butalsopromotetheirwritingproficiency.ForChina’sEnglishteachingclassthatlacksemphasisoncriticalthinkingforalongtime,itmaycreateadouble-winprocessinlanguagewritingclass.Therefore,thisstudypointsoutthenecessityandimplementationoffosteringcriticalthinkinginEnglishwritingclass,whichmightbeaperspectiveproject.Byturningtothestudyofthedevelopmentofcriticalthinkinginwritingclass,somerewardingandsatisfyingfindingsinthenewfieldmightbediscovered..1.THEDEFINITIONOFCRITICALTHINKINGIna2006book,RichardPaulandLindaElderpresentedacriticalthinkingternarymodel,whichconsistsofthreeparts:thelogicalelements,intellectualstandardsandintellectualcharacteristics.Amongthem,theproposalofintellectualstandards(accuracy,clarity,relevance,logic,adequacy,accuracy,depth,significance,fairness,breadth)inthemodelisasignificantcontributiontocriticalthinking.Inparticular,theyaccentuatedtheneedto“raiseimportantquestion”,“collectinformation”,“testjustifiedconclusionandsolutions”,“thinkingwithanopenmind”,and“communicateeffectively”,whichdemonstratestheimportanceofthinkingquality(Ren,2013).Insummary,criticalthinkingisaprocessofindependentthinking,suspicion,research,demonstrationandacceptanceofdifferentviews.Inotherwords,itnotonlydemandsonetodaretochallengetheauthority,re-identifyproblems,askquestions,resolveissues,butalsobewillingtoacceptnewthings,andviewthingsdialectically,soastoimproveone’sunderstandingofthingsconstantly.2.THEPROPOSALOFINPUT-OUTPUTTEACHINGMODEL2.1Krashen’sInputTheoryandSwain’sOutputTheoryKrashen’s“InputHypothesis”:Inthefieldofsecondlanguageacquisition,theinputhypothesiswasproposedbyKrasheninthemid-20thcentury.Krashen(1981)maintainsthat,thesecondlanguageacquisitionhappensonlywhen“comprehensibleinput”becomeaccessibletothelearners,namely“i+1”,inwhich“i”referstothecurrentlearninglevelofthelearnerand“1”meansthehigherpartoverthecurrentleveloflearning.Swain’soutputtheory:HavingfoundthelimitationofKrashen’stheory,Swain&Lapkin(1995)proposedthe“outputtheory”.Theybelievethatsecondlanguageacquisitioncouldnotbeproducedmerelybylanguageinput,butalsocallsforcomprehensibleoutput.Swain&Lapkin(1995)putforwardthreefunctionsoflanguageoutput:noting-triggeringfunction,hypothesis-testingfunctionandmeta-languagefunction.Meanwhile,languageoutputalsopromotesthefluencyoflanguage.Thus,anaturalconclusioncouldbedrewingfromtheoutputtheorythatlanguageoutputisindeedsignificantforsecondlanguagelearners.2.2TheInput-OutputTeachingModelAccordingtoKrashen’sinputtheoryandSwain’soutputtheory,thepapertriestoexploretheInput-OutputmodeltodevelopcriticalthinkinginEnglishmajorwritingclass(Figure3),whichincludesthestageofinputandstageofoutput.Astheteachingobjectiveofthewholemodel,theoutputstageguidestheteachingprocessintheinputstage.Inaddition,intheinputstage,teachersarerequiredtofurthertrainanddevelopthestudents’criticalthinkingbasedontheircurrentknowledgeandwaysofthinking,i.e,the“i+1”.Figure3TheInput-OutputModeltoDevelopStudents’CriticalThinking2.2.1TheInputStageofInput-OutputModelIntheinputstage,firstofall,theteacherinspiresstudentstothinkinitiatively.First,asfortheselectionofwritingtopic,it’sworthnotingthatthetopicshouldhaveastrongrelationwithstudents’life,interestsandthecharacteristicsattheircurrentstage.Meanwhile,itneedstobeauthentic,inspiring,openandcontroversialsoastoinspirestudents’interestsandofferthemspaceoff